Detective Gates: The Case of the Missing Clerks, and a Mayor
by greenflorida321
Summary: My second story. Well, was my first story. Read it and tell me what you think. Rated K for minor language and minor peril. This is a bit of a neo-noir story also, just to let ya know. Everyone but Dr. Gates and Bunny Dodgers are owned by my friends.
1. Prologue

In this big city, as we call it Toontown, or home, I'm the best detective there is. Some say Cogs fear me, running from me (But, they never get away. Oh well.). Some others say I'm the untouchable detective, always ready to solve that special case. Other Toons say I roam the streets, feeling fear in evil eyes. Actually, I'm just an expert as a detective, and all of the above. No, I'm not trying to impress the ladies or whatever. I'm just here to protect and serve my town. Well, I'm a male dog, I work for the Toontown Detective Agency, I'm 19 right now. I'm single and we do... well, what other detectives do; solve mysteries. Most of them are Cogs doing it, and, in rare situations, Toons are doing the evil doing. It's a pity Toons are becoming evil every minute of the days.. Don't mind that, I always get my suspects. And like I said before, I'm the best detective there is. I hope I'm not _TOO _arrogant.


	2. The Wee Hours of the Morn'

It was a fine, Spring dawn in Toontown. The trees were back to green, and the birds sounded like they were singing "Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder. After a few minutes, my loud, ear-deafening alarm rang, and I flew like a bird out of my bed, hitting the somewhat hard ceiling. I fell back down onto my bed._ Screw this alarm. I'm gonna return it back to the shop tomorrow_, I thought. Thank God it wasn't the white, marble floor. It wouldn't be too serious, but, it would've gotten me mild injuries, maybe major. I got out of my bed, and looked at my alarm clock. It read: 6:15. "Perfect timing. I got enough time to take a long, cold shower, eat breakfast and sip on a cup of coffee, latte coffee; to be correct." I did all that in 1 hour, it was now quarter past 7 AM. I opened my detective kit. I got the clothes out and got into it. I got the other parts of the kit. I was ready and then I went outside. The bright sun was rising above the buildings. I breathed in the fresh air as it comforted me. Then, I walked to the Toontown Detective Agency.

I opened the shiny, glass door and everyone looked at me like I was a Hollywood star.

"Mornin', Gates!" everyone shouted gleefully.

"Hello, guys." I answered back. I walked to the elevator and pressed the _2_ button that goes up to the place where everything we need for working purposes_. I know this is gonna be a good day_, I thought. I got to the second floor and sat down at my chair. Oh, did I mention I'm the top detective here? Anyway, someone came to my door and opened it. It was my old friend, Little Cuddles McFlipper.

"Hello, Dr. Gates." she greeted.

"Oh, hiya, McFlipper." I replied.

"Is everything in colour all over Toontown as the whole agency assumed?" she asked.

"Yep, but, just a few grey specks. The Toons will take care of that.

"Okay. I'll leave you alone to concentrate on your work." she said and smiled, while waving at me as she walked out of my office.

"That duck. Always fills us Toons with joy." I complimented. I got back on my Toontown Cog Building Finder 2000, but for some strange reason the parts where the shop clerks are were, one by one, turning white, which meant they were empty. They always close at midnight. But, It was just morning. It was the weirdest thing I've seen since the invasion that took all Toontown. That time I was a scientist. I got kicked out after a few years because I made a wrong mixture for chemicals which exploded the lab like Underworld on Earth. I pressed the assist button to the CEO of our company and asked her: "Miss Shane, bring every worker here. There's something wrong in Toontown." Everyone came running in my office, like a wildebeest stampede.

"What is it, Gates?" Kitter Coolpaws asked me.

"Well, all the places where shop clerks are are turning white. That means something..." I replied, in a worried voice.

"Well, Gates, what does it mean?" Twilight asked.

"Look for yourself, Twilight. It's even in the playgrounds." I replied, then showed her the white buildings.

"I see." she said. Did I mention we always use her as a lure? Well, a criminal lure, mind you.

"We gotta do something about this."

"Well, we can just tell them it's not night time. It's that simple." Bunny Dodgers said, then chuckled. I walked up to him and said:

"Yeah, like that'll work, you dope." Then, I slapped him in the face. Seriously, sometimes I don't understand that rabbit. He gives the stupidest ideas and then he acts like the true hero. Well, you gotta be smart to be one, or you're just a dumb Toon who thinks everything's possible. Anyways, the others were giving ideas. Until...

"Gates. I think I have an idea." Twilight said. "We can sneak through the HQs and look everywhere in each HQ until we find the hidden, missing shop clerks. Doesn't that seem like an excellent thought?" she explained. I stared at her for a second, then I said:

"Well... it's a start. We'll do it." I announced. "Okay, fellas! Listen up!" I announced. "We're gonna go with Twilight's idea!" They thought for a long, long time. "Can you guys just make up your minds?" I groaned with a tired sigh.

"Okay, we'll do it." they all said.

"Okay, let's go." I said. Everyone went except me. I got my pet doodle and I strapped his collar onto a sled with wheels. "Mush, Lightning, mush!" I commanded.

"Geez, and he says he does all the hard work here." my doodle said while breaking a fourth wall.


	3. The Search for the Missing Clerks

In the last chapter, I agreed with Twilight's idea to go into every Cog HQ to find those shopkeepers. So, we went to the Sellbot HQ. We looked in the factory, but I was just lying on the comfortable wagon I strapped my doodle's collar to.

"C'mon, Lightning. We're almost done here." I told him and took a sip of lemonade.

"Can't you do the searching yourself?" Lightning groaned.

"Yeah! I'd love to."

"Really?"

"No." Suddenly, he threw me on the floor, and put the wagon on me. "HEY! LET ME OUT, YOU DIRTY SON OF A DOODLE!" I yelled.

"Not unless you search yourself." he chuckled. Guess he thought it was worth the chuckle.

"FINE, FINE! I'll do it!" Then he let me get up. "I just wanted to be lazy for a day." I growled to my doodle, and I started searching. The others and I met in the deep pit. "Nothing here, let's check the Cashbot HQ." I said, and we went there.

_***Twilight's POV (Point of View or Perspective)***_** A/N (Dr. Gates): The "Point of View" part in parentheses are just for people who don't know what POV means. **

While searching:

"So, Flipper, how's the searching going?" I asked.

"Well, I did find a clue." She replied and showed a picture of Flippy.

"Oh, that's ni... wait, what?"

"Yep, and that means..." she paused and then our pupils shrunk to the size of an ant.

"He's kidnapped!"

_***Back to my POV***_

"Gates! Gates!" McFlipper yelled from a distance

"What? What?!" I asked, thinking something happened, and something did, as she told me.

"It's Flippy. He's with the other kidnapped clerks."

"But, why?"

"Well, I don't know. Don't worry, we'll catch him. The suspect won't get away with it, because of us meddling detectives."

Me: "Have you been watching too much Scooby-Doo, Flipper?" I asked with my right eyebrow rising slowly. She nodded, and slowly, but surely, I went back to the exit to call the others. They met with me at the exit to Pajama Place. "Let's check the Bossbot HQ." I said, and we went there. Later on, I found a clue. It was a picture of Clerk Clara's high school picture. I admit, she looked kinda cute in the picture, but, let's not change the subject, okay? Okay. As I was saying, I found her picture, and I told Kitter Coolpaws about it.

"So that's her?" Coolpaws asked.

"Yep, she's trapped with the other clerks. No doubt 'bout it." I replied.

"Then, who's gonna give us gags to fight the Cogs?"

"What's th' matter? You like her or something?"

"What? NO!"

"C'mon. Admit it. You do like her."

"Shaddup, shaddup, shaddup!"

"I'll shut up until you fess up, little kitten."

After I said that, Coolpaws stormed out of my sight. Eh, could've been worse, y'know. After I found the clue, I gathered everyone back. I told them we're gonna check the Lawbot HQ now, and we went there.

We looked through every nook and cranny there, but nothing in sight. But, suddenly, a cardboard box with holes caught my attention. So, I ambled to it, I opened the box, and saw the clerks. "Sweet son of a pearl..." I whispered in shock.


	4. The Battle of Guts and Glory

Man, I should've know that they were in the Lawbot HQ the whole time. I got my walkie-talkie and said to McFlipper:

"Flipper, gather all the people to me, I found the missing clerks." No answer.

"Flipper, can you read me?" Still no answer. I knew something was wrong, and I should have known that. Because right when I turned 180 degrees, I saw the Chief Justice with McFlipper in his grippy, metal hands.

CJ: "Alright, Gates. I had enough of your crappy agency saving Toontown. You can stop saving your precious Toontown and I won't hurt your friend here. OR, you can save the day, and I'll flatten her in the cogs 'til she's a pancake."

Me: "OH, yeah?"

CJ: "Yeah."

Me: "Yeah?!"

CJ: "Yeah?!

Me: "YEAH?!"

CJ: "Yes, yes. Now, shut up before I kill you next."

The others came and stood around us to watch the action movie.

Me: "Okay, so-called Chief Justice. Let's have a ghost pepper contest. You and me. After we eat the peppers, we stare at each other and watch as we go in pain and agony. The man who stands alive wins. And I bet 500 jellybeans."

CJ: "And I bet 5000 jellybeans."

Me: "Mm. I don't think you'll like putting thousands of those on the table. Y'know why? Because I'm the champion of pepper contests." I showed him my trophies. Trust me, I had it in the bag. A moment later, Rockstar Kit gave us the 50 ghost pepper.

Rockstar: "Gates. Are you sure you can do this? I mean, the ghost pepper are the ho..."

Me: "Don't worry. It's in the bag."

Rockstar: "Two-bit show-off. [rolling eyes]

Twilight: "Good luck, Gates."

Me: "Don't worry, Twilight, my dear Halloween friend. I ALWAYS get my suspects."

Kitter Coolpaws got the bell and rang it. _DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! _I started to eat the first ghost pepper. I admit, it was my first time eating 50 of them. I started munching the peppers up, while the CJ, he's just not sure about entering it. After 15 minutes straight eating those, we started staring at each other with a smirk (in a confident smug kind of way). The Chief started to sweat a little and smoke started coming out of his ears. I knew I had this one in the bag. And after a few seconds, the CJ froze, literally. I poked him with my pinkie and then he fell right on the ground. His button for his health shut down, which meant he dropped dead, literally. After, Kitter rang the bell. "The winner of this tournament is Detective Gates!" Kitter shouted. Everyone started to cheer for me. That's the moment when I felt like a true hero to everyone.

"I.. I won. I won! I WON!" I shouted with glee. I walked up to the CJ, now half-conscious. "Hail to the king, baby." I said to him with a confident smile and I splatted a Cream Pie at him. I took the jellybeans me and CJ betted that were on the table. I got McFlipper out of his grippy, metal hand.

"Thanks, Gates." McFlipper said.

"Hey, what are friends for?" I replied and I gave her a helping hand. After a while, I was frozen. I think the ghost peppers had a big effect on me. Then, Twilight came running to me so fast, she was like a blur. And then, the best moment of my life came; Twilight kissed me. I waited for that moment my whole life in the agency. I unfroze from the kiss and said: "Thanks for the congrats, I guess?"

"No problem." she said and she chuckled in an affectionate way. Kitter came up to me and said:

"Was that just a hallucination or did you just kiss Twilight?"

Me: "What? NO! Probably your peanut-sized brain is making you think that."

Kitter: "Nope. I don't think that was a hallucination."

Yeah, sometimes love can be happy, and joyful for you, but sometimes it's embarrassing to a friend who's sometimes a stuck-up jerk.

**A/N: Thus the story concludes now with Twilight as my girl, and the rest, still as my good old friends. Stay tuned for the sequel. See ya soon!**


End file.
